Yucatan Travel Guide: Birds and Ruins

Mexico is such a geographically diverse country with so many beautiful destinations. My friend was having a bachelorette trip in Cancun (not my typical scene), so I added on a week to explore the Yucatan first! The week was full or wildlife and cultural exploration.

Itinerary Overview

• Day 1:
  • Arrive in Cancun
  • Bus to Valladolid
• Days 2-4:
  • Explore Vallodolid and the surrounding area, including:
    • Ek Balam
    • Chichen Itza
    • Birding Tour
    • Cenotes
    • Spa
• Day 5*:
  • Travel to Tulum
• Day 6*:
  • Sian Ka’an Tour
• Day 7:
  • Travel to Cancun

Days 5 and 6 have an * because I didn’t actually get to do these plans, which I was so disappointed about! I will still discuss them below, but don’t have firsthand experience. I got very sick in Valladolid and was in bed for pretty much an entire two days. Probably the water?

Transportation

Cancun Airport to Valladolid

After arriving to the Cancun airport, we went outside to catch a bus. There are no direct buses form the airport to Valladolid. You can take a bus from the airport to the city of Cancun and then another to Valladolid.

We had a very difficult time catching a bus (but it was New Year’s Eve). We tried to get on the first one available, which was full and instead of waiting the hour or whatever it was, we ran to the other terminal to take a bus that left sooner. We missed it. I do not recommend trying to move terminals. Takes way longer than you think and we waited twice as long.

I honestly can’t remember why we took a bus from the airport to Playa del Carmen instead of to the city, but that’s what we did. We spent a few hours there, and then continued to Valladolid.

From Playa del Carmen, we took another bus to Valladolid. Tickets can be booked in advance on ADO, but unless you’re traveling on a holiday, you shouldn’t have a problem getting tickets at the airport.

Valladolid to Tulum

There are many buses throughout the day that connect Valladolid and Tulum. Note, that if a bus says ADO Conecta, that is a smaller van-like bus and not your typical big bus. We traveled in a conecta and had no problems with it.

I got sick in Valladolid and never made it to Tulum but feel confident in sharing these transportation details*

Tulum to Cancun

From Tulum, we were planning on staying a bit north of the city and were going to take a colectivo (a shared taxi) heading north to Playa del Carmen and then a bus to Cancun.

If you’re in Tulum city, there are many buses throughout the day that will take you to Cancun and even to the airport.

I got sick in Valladolid and never made it to Tulum but feel confident in sharing these transportation details*

Where to Stay

Valladolid

My friend and I were definitely traveling on a budget this trip. We shared a room at Casa Valladolid Boutique Hotel. The beds weren’t the most comfortable and breakfast was not included, but the hotel was clean and pretty, plus it’s close to the square and bus station (but no too close so it wasn’t very noisy).

Since I was too sick to travel to Tulum, we moved a couple blocks over to Hotel Zaci a couple days later. The hotel was fine, nothing else really to say about it. There were a lot of issues with the wifi.

If I were to go back and had a higher budget, I would look into staying at Le Muuch Hotel Boutique. It looks beautiful and is still close to downtown.

Tulum

Again, I didn’t make it to Tulum unfortunately, but I was so excited to stay at these amazing domes in the jungle. It is a bit trickier to get to, but I was looking forward to birding around the property. The host helps you with directions, but essentially you can either take a taxi or get dropped off by a bus/colectivo and walk the road to get there if you’re traveling light.

If you go, let me know how it is!

What to do

Now for the fun part! I’ll go into detail of what to do in Valladolid from firsthand experience and I’ll share what my plans were for Tulum.

Valladolid

Ek Balam

You’ve probably heard of the world-renowned Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza, but have you heard of Ek Balam? It’s a Yucatec-Maya site about 30 minutes north of Valladolid, making it an easy-to-reach destination.

On its grounds, there’s also a cenote you can swim at! Beware of your belongings; I forgot my hat in the shower room and after coming back for it just a couple minutes later it was gone. It wasn’t even crowded!

We got there by taking a colectivo a few blocks from the town square. The only downside it that you have to either wait or pay the difference. We waited awhile for a third person and then decided to cover the cost of the 4th so that we could leave. It was only around $5 each.You can also take a taxi from the square. I wouldn’t pay more than $15 USD.

We did not get there early because we aren’t morning people, but the first colectivo leaves around 7am. Our driver told us that the taxis keep track of people so we’d have no problem getting out. That was not true at all and we almost got abandoned in the middle of the jungle!

One of the employees was leaving on his taxi and fortunately we flagged him down. He was going to close the gate–meaning we would’ve had a 7km walk to the highway to even have an opportunity to flag someone down!

Fortunately, his uncle was a taxi driver and came to pick us up for a premium. I think it may have been somewhere around $30. We did negotiate a bit, but obviously we weren’t in an advantageous position. So keep this in mind if you’re there at the end of the day!

Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza doesn’t need much of an introduction. It’s an impressive archeological site and there’s more to it than just the iconic pyramid.

We took a colectivo at 7am in order to hopefully beat the crowds. When we arrived outside, the lines were moving quickly but we ended up hoping out of line an going to a “fast pass” lane that included a guide. I don’t remember how much the guide cost, but it was definitely less than booking a tour online (maybe around $30?).

I do recommend hiring a guide. You learn so much more and it makes it more interesting. There are both English and Spanish guides. My friend and I are bilingual, but if you require an English-speaking guide, I would expect to pay a bit more.

We did get in before there were too many people, but within a short while it filled up. There are people and vendors everywhere. Was it worth it? I lean towards yes, but Ek Balam was very cool too and has pretty much no crowds and no vendors. If you have to choose between the two, I’d go with Ek Balam. You can hire a guide there too.

Birding Tour

I of course wanted to do a birding tour while in this part of Mexico, but it was hard to find one! I finally was able to contact someone directly, Ichi (Ismael), who worked with us to create a great day of birding. His contact info can be found on TripAdvisor. He offers many different types of tours at varying costs.

We did not have a big budget or a lot of time, so he offered us the “backpackers” version (my name for it), which started out early at the bus station in Valladolid. We took a bus towards Amazili Nature Reserve which dropped us off in a small pueblito and we began walking! We walked for several hours, seeing lots of birds and meeting someone from the local indigenous community.

It was a long day of walking and we had to wait a while on the side of the road for a bus to pick us up to bring us back to Valladolid. It was tiring, but worth it! We saw around 60 species! The most exciting one to me was two Aracari!

Cenotes

Cenotes are freshwater sinkholes. There are thousands across the Yucatan due to its geology. Some are exposed to the sky and some are completely enclosed in caves! The only one I went to was X’Canche which is at Ek Balam (but entrance fees are separate). It was really cool and since we were there late in the day, hardly anyone else was around.

There are many other cenotes near Valladolid. I didn’t go to any, but my friend visited several one day while I went to a spa. She had a great time! There are also many tours you can book if you don’t want to diy it, but they’re mostly paired with visiting Chichen Itza too.

Spa Day

Once I felt well enough to emerge from my hotel room, I went to get a massage and I think it was the best massage of my life! It’s called Mulik spa, but I’m afraid it has closed. Google Maps says temporarily closed, but the most recent reviews are from a year ago.

There are several other spas around town, though, if you feel like you’re due for some relaxation.

Tulum

There are a lot of things to do in the area of Tulum, however since I didn’t actually get there I will only focus on one, Sian Ka’an.

Sian Ka’an

Sian Ka’an is an important Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site. It is home to beautiful mangroves and many other plants and animals, including mantees and of course birds! We were planning on going with Community Tours, which focuses on environmental sustainability while supporting the local communities. Their site has many tour options listed all over the Yucatan! Once I contacted them for information on Sian Ka’an, we chose our specific tour which was a full day out to Punta Allen.

Was so disappointed not to get here! I hope to go back someday.

Birds

I saw 74 bird species on this trip, including 53 lifers! During my birding tour, Ichi recorded around 60. I did not accept all of his observation into my stats because I didn’t hear or see everything he did.

You can view the entire list here. The highlight for me was the Collared Aracari and it was also pretty cool to see the Ferruginous Pygmy Owls and Turquoise-browed Motmot.

Hope you found this helpful and have a great time in the Yucatan! As always, reach out with any questions.